


Daffodils and Tulips

by oncetherelivedaboy



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Gen, M/M, Sad, but I'm warning you now, his mom isn't dead AU, the first few chapters might be cute, this isn't going to have a happy ending, trans alex (only really mentioned in passing but it is a thing)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-10-05 01:05:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10293890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oncetherelivedaboy/pseuds/oncetherelivedaboy
Summary: Alex and John take a trip to visit Alex's mother, things can never be that simple.





	1. Chapter 1

His ears popped as they made their descent, and he felt John waking up, his head on Alex’s shoulder. They’d gotten a last minute red-eye flight out of JFK. It had been slightly on a whim, to his visit his mom. When he’d called her she’d said she was coming down with something. She’d said it wasn’t anything serious but Alex knew how she got when she was sick, how they both did. It wasn’t often they got sick, but when they did it was high fevers and it felt like hell. She was getting up there in age and he thought he’d come down to make sure she was alright for the week. He could work while they were there and John had his own hours at the pet clinic given that he owned it and there were several other vets that could fill his spots. He’d called in on the drive to the airport and had yet to technically get the days off, but it’s not like they could really do anything so long as he got the stuff he had to done given he’d been elected to his position. 

“How much longer?” John muttered into his shoulder. 

“Not long at all sweetheart. We’re landing soon.” John snuggled slightly closer, pressing his face into the jacket when their seatmate turned on the overhead light. “When we get off will you get the stuff from baggage claim while I take care of the rental car?” John nodded, and gave up trying to avoid the light and sat up properly. 

-

They waited in the plane as everyone pushed their way to the front, their seatmate had pushed past them both, nearly hitting Alex in the nose with his laptop case as he went by, grumbling as he did so. 

“Should we just get a hotel tonight?” John suggested. “I don’t want to wake your mom up.” 

“Trust me, by the time we get there she’ll be wide awake. She tells me about the sunrise every time we talk.” John laughed.

“I’m glad we’re going to see her again.” Alex nodded. 

“I’m just worried about her.” John glanced back at the line, the end of it nearly to their own seats. 

“We should start getting our stuff together.” He said before stretching a bit to press a soft kiss to his fiance’s mouth. “Sorry for the morning breath.” John said afterwards. “I just couldn’t resist.” 

“I’ll let it slide this time.” He said, as John pulled out a pack of gum. “But only for you.” He offered a piece to Alex who waved it away.

“I’m going to get some coffee before we leave, I’ll take a piece after though.” 

-

The luggage is already circling around the carousel by the time John gets to it and Alex is only just stepping up to the counter for the car when he’s taken care of  it. In the meantime he goes to find coffee, purchases a medium of their dark roast for Alex and grabs a handful of sweetener. He doesn’t take milk in his coffee but he puts enough sugar in it John’s surprised it even tastes like coffee anymore. When he gets back the service agent is handing over a pair of keys to Alex. John hands him the coffee and his bags in exchange for a kiss and they both head out of the airport to take the bus to the car lot with their rentals. 

Alex drives, because John has no idea how to get from the airport to the small town Alex grew up in. The sun is just rising when Alex gets off the highway and they enter a small cozy town. On Main Street he parks and the two get out. 

They enter a small flower shop, the glass windows painted with designs and flowers. Inside there is a young woman working the counter and a small white-haired woman talking to her. Alex picks out a small bouquet of bright yellow tulips and purple daffodils. When the older woman turns to leave she gasps and grins. 

“Alexander is that you!” He jumps back from the display he’s looking at before smiling. 

“Mrs. Loszki.” She comes over to him and wraps an arm around his shoulder. Alex has always wondered how the tiny Polish woman had ended up on the island he’d called home, but she’d been here as long as he could remember and her daughter used to babysit him when he was young. 

“Oh honey, Rachel didn’t say you were coming down.” 

“It was sort of last minute. We came down to surprise her.”  She smiles even more widely and notices John as he moves just a bit closer to Alex. 

“Is this John?” She asks, pointing to him. 

“Yes.” She takes his hand and pats it, leaning in to Alex. 

“Rachel showed me pictures but those don’t do him justice.” Alex laughs and John goes red in the face. She pulls back, still gently patting his hand before letting go and retrieving her flowers from the counter as she speaks. “I’ve got to get back, the grandkids are staying with me for the summer, I just wanted to get some flowers for the kitchen. They really liven up the room.” John moved to open the door for her and she patted his arm lightly, smiling up at him. “What a nice young man, Alexander this boy is a keeper.” 

Alex pays and they stop at the bakery next door to pick up some bagels before heading back to the car.

“When I came out everyone made a point to use my new full name, it’s great how accepting everyone was but it still cracks me up everytime.” 

“Alexander.” John jokes.

“Jonathan.” Alex replies. 

“Ok, I agree full names are weird.” 

“I prefer calling you my dearest Laurens anyway.” John leans forward to kiss him, taking the bag of fresh bagels from one hand and the flowers from the other before he walks around to the passenger’s seat. 

A few minutes later and they are parked in the driveway of a small house, there are no fences around the yard. 

“The woman we met at the flowershop lives across the street.” Alex adds as he turns off the car, taking the flowers from John’s lap. 

“Are you sure your mom’s up?” Alex nods.

“She watches the sunrise every morning. Trust me she’s up.” They get out and he rounds the car to take John’s hand as he leads him to the front door.

Alex knocks, and they hear a muffled “coming” from the other side before it opens to a woman just a tad bit shorter than Alex, her black hair longer that Alex’s and streaked with white and silver. There’s a moment of shock, as if she can’t quite believe it. 

“Hey mom, I’m home.” Tears streak down her face and then she wraps her arms around her son, pulling him into her grip. 

“Alexander, how?”

“Took a red eye flight, I wanted to surprise you.” John smiles when Rachel looks up. She grabs him by the arm, dragging him into the embrace along with Alex.

After a moment of rocking them both from foot to foot she lets go of John and holds Alex at arms length, “Honey, I’ve missed you so much.” She wipes at the tears and kisses his cheek. 

“You two must be hungry.” She suddenly adds. “I’ll go start some breakfast for all of us.”  

“Mom, I brought bagels and I can cook.” 

“Nonsense Alex, I’ll make some eggs and fry up some ham to go with those.” She says gesturing to the bag of bagels. “You remember where the vases are, why don’t you get those in some water.” She smiles and turns, leading them into the kitchen. “How long are you staying dear?”

“A few days if that’s alright with you.” She turns as they’re setting their bags down. 

“Of course, Alexander it’s always wonderful to have you home, and John it’s great to see you again. I’m so glad you could come.” Alex finds the vases under the sink and John finds a pair of dull scissors, passing them to Alex, his mother tuts at him. Abandoning the sizzling ham for a moment to take out a sharp knife and cut the stems with those.

“It’s best to use a sharp knife when you cut flowers.” She says leaving the rest to Alex, who crushes an aspirin to add to the water before placing the flowers and shuffles a few to make it a little more even. Rachel turns to glance at it. 

“Much better.” 

“Here, Mom, why don’t you sit down,  really it's no problem for John and I to take care of breakfast.” 

“If it’s no problem then please let me handle it.” 

“You said on the phone you thought you were getting sick…”

“Is that why you came down here? I told you not to worry. Alexander I’m fine, a little cold never killed anyone.” 

“Mom, I just worry. Especially with you being so far away.” She sighs.

“Alex, I promise you I’m perfectly fine. Do you want me to do a jig to prove my health?”

“I’m being serious.” 

“Oh yes, I can tell.” John has gone quiet at the table, knowing where the conversation is going. 

“What would you think of moving closer to us, between the two of us we could manage to find a nice little…” She cracks eggs into a bowl and scrambles them with a fork, watching the ham out of the corner of her eye. 

“Alex, I’m perfectly content here.” She was, she owned the little flower shop they’d stopped at, and had made a name for herself in the last years, where they had struggled in Alex’s younger years now she lived more than comfortably. 

“I know that, but it wouldn’t be hard for us to get you citizenship with me….”

“Alexander, I know you want me to be closer and I want to be closer to you but this is my home.” She pours the eggs into the pan with the ham. “I have no desire to come to the U.S. and I  don’t want to distract you with worrying for your elderly mother while you’re working.” She’s using a spatula to push the eggs around the pan and there’s a long silence of just that. “Get me a plate for the eggs.” With that the conversation is over and the three sit down at the table with their bagels toasted and slathered with cream cheese, topping them with the eggs and ham. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

It’s a quiet morning, nothing like the kind the two are accustomed to. There are no cars rushing by, just the slight shift of leaves on trees outside of the open window and the breeze gently blowing the curtains. For the first time in what feels like years he feels rested, the sun is what wakes him, streaming through the windows. His day has always started before John’s but this morning that side of the bed is empty. He stretches and checks his phone before getting up entirely. He finds John sitting on the back porch with his mother, the two of them are talking, though Alex isn’t really paying attention to the content as he pours himself a cup of coffee before joining them, still in his loose pajama shirt and shorts. He sits next to John on the porch swing, wrapping the arm that isn’t holding his coffee around his waist, John’s own arm going around his shoulder. . 

“Sleep well?” He asks and Alex nods, taking a sip of the coffee. They all sit quietly for a while, the sun had since risen, but they stayed, just listening and watching the morning. Alex leaned into him, the arm around his shoulder tightened and he felt John’s lips brush his forehead. 

“We were talking about me helping your mom at the shop today so that you can get some work done.” Alex nods again, only half hearing what he’s saying, watching the birds and dragonflies flitting around the plants in front of the porch, and trying to figure out what was different about the coffee. There was more than just the bitterness he was used to when he used to sit on this porch. 

His mom stood, ruffling his hair lightly before heading inside. 

“I’m going to start on breakfast, don’t get too cozy or you’ll be the talk of the town.” John chuckled and Alex smiled. Realizing what was different.

“You bought flavored coffee.” He says aloud and John glances down at him. “You never buy flavored coffee.” His mom had always ardently believed that flavored coffee was a blasphemer. 

“I know you like that stuff, and I’ve been drinking tea. I picked it up for you last night.”

“Thanks mom.” She smiles and passes through the door and out of sight. 

The smell of food cooking brings Alex back inside. Alex gets plates from the cabinet and silverware from a drawer. As he sets the table he glances over to where she stands in front of the stove, she’s staring at the eggs, unblinking. 

“Mom?” He says after a moment, a bit of worry in his voice. She snaps out of whatever it was, glancing at him. 

“Yes?” She’s annoyed by the concern.

“Nothing.” He says shaking away the worry and focuses back on setting the table, fixing the little vase of flowers that sit in the center of it. “Have you heard from from James recently?” She pauses in her movements again, Alex knows the subject of his brother is touchy, he’d left without looking back, not an ounce of regard or respect for the woman who’d brought him into the world and gave every penny and every ounce of her love to her sons. She remains quiet for a moment and when he looks back up she’s got a hand over her mouth, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. 

“Mom, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” She shakes her head as he comes over to wrap her in a hug. “I was just hoping he had.” The oil in the pan sizzles and she wipes at her face with the back of her hand. She pulls away from him after a moment to take care of the food. 

“It’s alright honey, I know you meant the best.” She sniffles and shoos Alex away. 

“Go be with your fiance, I’ll let you know when breakfast is done.” Alex gives her a look but she practically pushes him out of the house in faux annoyance. “I can’t cook with you hovering.” She says before returning to the stove. He sits back down with John, who wraps his arm back around Alex. 

“She kicked me out.” 

“I heard.” John runs a hand down Alex’s back and snakes it around his waist, tucking it into the pocket of Alex’s pajama pants. Alex leans in to kiss him, his eyes just starting to close when there’s a crash from the kitchen, the sound of a pan hitting the floor. Alex pulls away. 

“Mom?” He’s up and back in the house in an instant, John right behind him. 

She’s lying on the floor, the pan spilled across the blue tile. Alex is crouched next to her,  shaking her shoulders. Alex has his phone out the second he realizes she’s not going to respond, dialing emergency services. John sets in with CPR. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahaha I hate myself so much for this fic because honestly it just depresses the fuck out of me, but seriously guys I love comments and I really love writing requests (even though it sometimes takes me awhile) so if you have any hmu at oncetherelivedaboy.tumblr.co


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